Denny Hamlin wins home race at Richmond

Denny Hamlin‘s hometown of Chesterfield, Virginia is approximately twenty miles away from Richmond Raceway, making it his NASCAR Cup Series home circuit. A little pit strategy earned him his fifth career win at the track as his fresher tyres allowed him to pass William Byron with five laps remaining and pull away for his first win of 2022.

Hamlin started thirteenth while Ryan Blaney was on the pole. The former’s 23XI Racing ally Kurt Busch was responsible for the first caution when his fuel pressure died ten laps in. Blaney would led every lap of the opening stage to win ahead of Byron, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick.

While Stage #2 was incident-free, pit stops dominated the segment as each team tested out various methods to maximise their track time on each setup. Hamlin and Toyota’s alternative strategy allowed Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Bell and Truex to lead laps, as did Blaney’s Team Penske compatriot Logano. Bell led much of the stage before being passed by Truex for the eventual stage victory. Chastain, Logano, Blaney, Elliott, Harvick, Busch, Kyle Larson, and Keselowski followed.

Six laps into the third stage, Cody Ware hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after he was turned by Erik Jones, prompting Ware to tweet about “[n]o respect (being) given back to me when I try to give it to everyone.” Another wreck came five laps following the ensuing restart when Ty Dillon and Cole Custer made contact and Austin Cindric was caught in the crossfire.

The race resumed on lap 264 with Byron leading. Like in the previous segment, pit stops were a critical factor as Hamlin elected to pit twice in Stage #3, while others like Byron opted to do one. Although Byron led much of the final stage, it slowly grew clear that Hamlin and his newer tyres had the advantage as he chased him down. Hamlin caught the leader and passed him with five laps remaining.

Although Harvick—who also made two stops—tried to follow, he was unable to close the gap enough as Hamlin secured his fifth win at Richmond and first since 2016. He is also the first Toyota driver to win a 2022 Cup race, while Ty Gibbs‘ victory in the previous day’s Xfinity Series event gave JGR a weekend sweep.

“You just have a tough season and things aren’t going well,” said Hamlin. “It seems like everything is not going your way and the law of averages say things are going to work out and we’ll get our performance better, and today’s the day where it all matched up.

“I just rely on the crew chief (Chris Gabehart) and his information to me says we are going to be racing this guy and this guy. As long as you run this pace and do everything you can in traffic, you’ve got a great shot to win. I don’t pay attention to where we were or anything. He told me where the leaders were. I just drove the car as smooth as I could.

“I love this track and the techniques that it takes to get around here. I watched some of the greatest short track racers in the world at Southside Speedway and Langley. I’ve learned so much from those guys watching from the stands. When I finally got the opportunity to apply it for myself, I did.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	13	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
2	7	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
3	2	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
4	6	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
5	21	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
6	9	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
7	1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	400	Running
8	28	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
9	3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	400	Running
10	25	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
11	4	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	400	Running
12	16	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	400	Running
13	19	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	400	Running
14	15	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	400	Running
15	18	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	400	Running
16	14	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	400	Running
17	11	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
18	17	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	399	Running
19	8	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	399	Running
20	20	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	399	Running
21	10	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	398	Running
22	12	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	398	Running
23	5	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	Running
24	30	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	398	Running
25	22	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	397	Running
26	29	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	397	Running
27	26	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	396	Running
28	32	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	396	Running
29	36	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	396	Running
30	24	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	395	Running
31	31	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	392	Running
32	23	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	390	Running
33	35	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	390	Running
34	34	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	386	Running
35	27	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	291	Running
36	33	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	241	Accident
37	37	44	Greg Biffle	NY Racing Team	Chevrolet	96	Suspension

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points